Held in Sydney in September 2008, The Complete Leader Conference gave a number of prominent real estate leaders from around Australia the opportunity to listen to some excellent and knowledgeable speakers talking about subjects ranging from accountability, staff recruitment and retention to exit strategies, reporting and business vision.

Conference host, Lee Woodward, was joined by a unique line-up of leadership professionals who tackled, head-on, the most crucial issues facing real estate industry leaders today.Being a conference as opposed to a training course, the two days were about solid collaboration in an attempt to gain direction and understanding of even the more controversial issues, such as pay structures. 

In this way, it wasn’t so much about being given the answers, but more an open forum where participants were encouraged to contribute and be open to a variety of views on issues that don’t necessarily have one simple answer.Extensive research was undertaken prior to the conference in order to ensure the event delivered real answers to the tough questions our leaders want answered. 

The research findings were also used to develop an interactive survey that formed a key part of the day.  The purpose of the survey was to anonymously extract information about the delegates as a broad representative sample of our industry leaders.  The findings of the survey highlighted that there are a number of quite varied opinions among our leaders and more than one way of operating. 

Key findings from our researchOur leaders’ top 10 challenges

1. Staff recruitment (attracting the right people with the right attitude) and retention
2. Getting the best performance from the sales team
3. Convincing older staff to move with the times
4. Succession management planning
5. Motivating staff to work harder and smarter in a tough market
6. Pay structures – in particular salespeople holding management to ransom
7. Generation Y
8. Accepting performance that is not to standard
9. Finding the balance between profit margins and keeping staff happy
10. Thinking outside the square when it comes to generating leads.